Boston College
New Hampshire
Hockey Falls At New Hampshire, 5-2
March 02, 2002 | Men's Hockey
March 2, 2002
DURHAM, N.H. - Boston College earned the sixth seed in the HOCKEY EAST Tournament by virtue of its 5-2 loss to regular-season champion New Hampshire on Saturday night at the Whittemore Center. The Eagles will travel to Maine to face the Black Bears in their quarterfinal series, slated to begin on Thursday, March 7 at 7 p.m. at Alfond Arena.
New Hampshire (24-6-3, 16-4-3) broke the game open in the first period, netting three goals in the game's first 7:08 of play. Kevin Truelson scored 1:28 in from the top of the left face-off circle for the opening goal. Ed Caron added to the lead 39 seconds later at 2:07 on a rebound goal before Darren Haydar scored a power-play goal at 7:08 to extend the lead to 3-0.
Jeff Giuliano put BC on the board at 15:13 of the first when he redirected a Ryan Shannon shot in past Wildcat goaltender Matt Carney. Shannon's off-angle shot came from the bottom of the right face-off circle after he broke in from the Eagles' zone.
Both teams skated evenly in the second period, but Sean Collins tapped in a cross-ice pass at 16:31 for the team's second power-play goal of the night. His goal came just 13 seconds into the power play.
Dave Spina pulled the Eagles within one goal late at 17:06 of the third when he knocked in an Andrew Alberts rebound right at the doorstep. Ben Eaves also assisted on the goal, setting up Alberts' shot from the left boards.
Colin Hemingway added an empty net goal at 19:25 to halt the Eagles' comeback bid and push the final score to 5-2.
Tim Kelleher made a season-high 31 saves in net for the Eagles, while Carney stymied BC with 29 saves. He stopped four point-blank chances in the first period, two of which were open net opportunities.
The two teams will meet again to close out the regular season on Sunday, March 3 in a 4 p.m. game. Senior team members and managers will be honored in a brief ceremony prior to the start of the game. Fox Sports New England will air the game live.
